30 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



the life of St. Ludgerus.* But these official panels are far 

 surpassed in beauty by some executed for private persons. 



In the leaf of the diptych of Flavins Felix, consul in 428 

 A. D., preserved in the collection of the Bibliotheque 

 Nationale in Paris, the consul is shown wearing a richly 

 embroidered tunic, the undergarment, subarmalia profundis, 

 being entirely plain; on his feet are the gilt, patrician shoes, 

 the ealcei aurati. In his left hand he holds a sceptre and a 

 globe, added distinguishing marks being the busts of the two 

 reigning emperors Valentinian III and Theodorus II. The 

 other leaf of this diptych was lost or stolen during the French 

 Revolution; that of the Bibliotheque Nationale came from 

 the Abbey of St. Junieu, at Limoges, France. 



The consular diptych of Flavins Anastasius Paulus Probus 

 Pompeius, to give him his full complement of names, is also 

 in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and is regarded as 

 the finest of those owned by this institution ; the Berlin Mu- 

 seum and the South Kensington Museum each have a replica 

 of one of the leaves. This fine example of Roman carving 

 was donated by Charles the Bald to the Abbey of St. Cor- 

 neille at some time during the ninth century. 



The J. P. Morgan Collection, long shown in the Metro- 

 politan Museum of Art, New York, contains among its ivory 

 carvings the two leaves of a Roman consular diptych of the 

 sixth century. This bears the name of Flavins Petrus 

 Sabbatius Justinianus, and was probably produced in 516, or 

 possibly in 521 A. D. On one of the leaves is the somewhat 

 pretentious Latin inscription: Munera parva quidem pretio 

 sed honoribus alma, "a gift slight in value but conferring 

 high honour"; on the other leaf is a dedication to the Sena- 

 tors. This diptych was at one time in the Trivulzi Collec- 

 tion in Milan. 



*Maskell, "Ivories Ancient and Medieval," pp. 28, 29, South Kensington Museum Art 

 Handbooks No. 2. 



